Athanasios "Tom" Portoulas, an employee at Adventure Sports in Smithfield Township, saved an 18-year-old New Jersey man from drowning in the Delaware River on Sunday.

ANDREW SCOTT

Until Sunday, Athanasios "Tom" Portoulas of Stroud Township had enjoyed his job at Adventure Sports on Seven Bridges Road in Smithfield Township for the two weeks he'd been working there.

Now, the 35-year-old native of Greece wants to quit.

It's not maintaining canoes or shuttling Delaware River boaters to and from canoe launches that's the problem. It's the 18-year-old New Jersey man who went swimming in the river without a life vest Sunday evening, nearly drowned and almost took Portoulas down with him when Portoulas went out to help him.

The incident happened between 7:30 and 8 p.m. at the Kittatinny Point Welcome Center's canoe launch, a non-designated swimming area with no lifeguard, off Interstate 80 in New Jersey.

"I've never been in a situation like that before, where I've had to risk my life to save somebody else's," Portoulas said. "It's left me shaken."

Visitors going boating on the Delaware can rent canoes with life vests from Adventure Sports and are shuttled to any of the launches along the river in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Boaters can travel down river, from one launch to another.

Boaters are given safety speeches about the need to always keep their life vests on while on the river and how it appears deceptively calm on the surface but has an undertow that has killed a number of swimmers who weren't wearing their vests, Portoulas said.

Boating hours on the Delaware end at 6 p.m. and anyone still on the river is charged $75 for each hour they stay out after that time.

At about 7:45 p.m. Sunday, Portoulas and others were at the Kittatinny Point launch, waiting for straggler canoers. The launch has a sandy area people use as a beach, even though it's not one of the National Recreation Area's designated beaches or swimming spots and has no lifeguard, said park Ranger Kathleen Sandt.

At the time of the incident, a New Jersey family was having a picnic on that sandy area. The group included two brothers in their late teens, who were swimming without life vests.

"I saw one of the guys standing with his shoulders above the water, waving at me for help," Portoulas said. "I was like, 'Why does he need help? He's standing up.'

"Then I realized it wasn't him in trouble but the other guy, who was about 15 feet out past him," he said. "The other guy's head was bobbing in and out of the water. I looked at the first guy and was like, 'Why don't you go get him? He's only 15 feet away from you.'"

Portoulas said about 20 life vests were on shore at the time.

"People around me were saying, 'Oh my God, I think he's gonna drown,' but nobody was making a move to do anything," Portoulas said. "So, I grabbed a life vest, jumped in and swam out to the guy. I grew up swimming, so I felt confident I could get out to where he was and give him the vest.

"When I got to him, I felt his hands reaching up from underwater and grabbing at me while I was trying to get him to take the vest," he said. "He was in a panic. He almost pulled me under with him.

"His head came back above water and he grabbed hold of the vest," he said. "As soon as he took it, I let go and backstroked away from him so I wouldn't be in any danger. I told him to calm down, hold onto the vest and start making his way back to shore."

After the shaken swimmer got back to safety, he thanked Portoulas and identified himself only as Leo, 18, of New Jersey, not giving his last name. A tearful and grateful family hugged and scolded Leo while thanking Portoulas.

Portoulas and the family didn't exchange any contact information and no one called 911 or reported the incident to the Park Service.

Portoulas said that, just minutes after Sunday's incident, he saw something even more disturbing.

"Other people were swimming in the river again, and none of them had life vests on," he said. "I just couldn't believe it after what had almost happened. At that point, I told myself I don't want to work in this job anymore because I don't ever want to go through anything like that again."

The following drownings have occurred in the Delaware River:

Memorial Day 2010: Salvador H. Salinas-Nenjivar, 31, of Union City, N.J., was trying to swim across the river when the current took him. Divers found his body downstream from Milford several hours later. May 2009: A teenager drowned after jumping off an Upper Mount Bethel Township bridge. July 2009: A 53-year-old man drowned while tubing near Portland. Also, a 29-year-old man was swimming in the river in Damascus Township when he drowned. August 2009: Canoeists found the body a 36-year-old man floating downstream from where he was last seen in the Staircase Rapids near Pond Eddy in the Upper Delaware. He drowned when his rented raft flipped. April 2008: In the Monroe County section of the Delaware River, two fishermen drowned.

Kathleen Sandt, educational program coordinator for the National Park Service in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, gives the following Delaware River safety tips:

Always wear life vests while out on the river, whether boating or swimming. Don't swim in areas not designated by the Park Service as safe. The three designated swimming areas with lifeguards are Turtle Beach in New Jersey, Smithfield Beach in Smithfield Township, Monroe County, and Milford Beach in Pike County. Always know where you are on the river. Note any landmarks. That way, in case of an emergency, rescuers know exactly where to go.